It seems so easy

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You think when you weld something that you just…weld it! Not so. What do we have here? Well, there’s a big sheet of steel on the workbench, and there are some two by fours on that, and there’s a special aluminum clamp on there, and then the standard quick-clamp holding the small “U” piece, and then at the far end is the clamp for the ground for the welder itself. Then, consider that all this stuff had to be lined up and steadied so that it wouldn’t fall or move while it was being welded. Then, of course, there’s always the chance that the weld itself is going to be lousy (in my case), and none of the aforementioned work will matter anyway.

Just…weld it. Sure!

Melodiosa

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This thing is called a Sextet. What you’re looking at is only part of it. It looks like a paddle wheel from a river boat. It has SIX harmonicas mounted on it. There are little handles on the end of the frame that holds it all together, and you can spin it around to use the different harmonicas as you’re playing a song. They are used for old pop standards from the 20s and 30s and 40s. This sort of thing used to be much more popular than it is now. It’s impressive to see someone really work one of these things over.

The same, but different

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Here is a view of the sculpture that I started in my steel fabrication workshop a few weeks ago. Yep, pretty much the same sort of stuff I’ve been doing on copper, but I’ve gone a couple sizes up in marble diameter, and it’s made out of steel. This thing is physically far larger than anything I’ve tried to do with copper, which is kind of fun and kind of ridiculous. I like it!

The Miller has landed!!!

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It’s here! It arrived in all its Miller Blue glory! I have been patient. I have been good. I have been selling things to get this thing, and now I have this thing!!!! I got the notice in the mail yesterday that they’d tried to deliver it, and first thing this morning I ran over to the post office with my little orange piece of paper to claim my own personal lottery prize.

Isn’t it cool????? ISN’T IT?!?!?!!? (I know, it’s a blue box, but just…lemme have my moment. I didn’t have a knife to cut off the zip tie around the handle, but I had to capture it in all its just-arrived glory.)

Just wait until I get this thing home and opened up!!! JUST. YOU. WAIT! Cool stuff is about to happen, kids! I’m tellin’ ya, something huge is on the horizon here!

Nirvana

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The search has led me here, Sutton-Garten Welding Supplies and Gases, the end-all and be-all of welding goodness. They have everything, and they know everything. This morning I picked up my bottle of argon for the TIG welder. It was a glorious morning indeed, although I kinda startled the guy who walked past my car about five seconds after I took this photo. I don’t think he was prepared for someone to be sitting in the parking lot with a camera taking pictures at 8am in the snow. That doesn’t strike me as unusual at all, but I’m a little different, perhaps.